When Volvo Group HR reviewed its presence on the Internet in 2008, it also worked together with Tech Watch and Business Innovation at Volvo IT to investigate the state of the Group’s presence on volvogroup.com from a recruitment and employer branding perspective. One decision that was taken was to start up a separate “Volvo Group” forum on Linkedin, a social network aimed primarily at handling professional networks. It serves as a forum where both current employees of the Volvo Group and also people who have previously been employed by the Group can maintain contact with one another.
“There have always been official and unofficial networks. What Linkedin does is to help draw attention to the existence of different types of networks and to make them more transparent. Having a separate forum on Linkedin offers several benefits, everything from serving as an additional communication channel to allowing us to stay in touch with people who have been made redundant owing to the financial crisis. And it also serves as a two-way channel operating in the other direction – the forum allows those who have left the company to stay in touch with the Volvo Group,” says Susanne Jannesson of Volvo Group HR.
“In this case, the forum has grown to more than 1200 members in less than a year. These are people who for various reasons have interests linked to the Volvo Group and who have voluntarily chosen to be members. It’s all happened without any active marketing on the part of the company, and this is something that demonstrates one of the strengths of social media,” says Rickard Strömberg of Volvo Group Online Communications, which has a special focus on social media.
Gustavo Rezler is responsible for Order to Cash and Purchase to Pay at Volvo Business Services South America. When he joined Volvo’s forum on Linkedin a while back, he did so as member number 1000.
“For me, social media represent a quick and simple way of keeping in touch with people I know – or don’t know but with whom I have interests in common. One reason why I joined the forum is that it increases my ability to stay in touch with colleagues whom I don’t meet regularly. At the same time, it also helps increase my understanding of the ‘Volvo world’, explains Gustavo Rezler.”
Volvo Group at LinkedIn